Quiet Mind
By ViridianLoom on January 7, 2024 6:59 am
› Lyrics
‹ Lyrics
Another piece of my life
Slowly slipping by year after year
Another trick of the light
In spite of all the threads I’ve tried to untangle
Stillness in the quiet, seeking to be better
Or more sincere
Afraid of what will come next
But trying to take it all in stride without regret
A little bit of quiet time
To find a song inside my mind
Hey everyone! Time for another year of this, haha. This will be my third time, which I can’t believe I’m doing, but it’s been incredibly rewarding. Looking forward to seeing new and familiar faces alike. Anyways, a bit about this track.
Admittedly, I’ve been a bit irritable and anxious the past few weeks thinking about the kind of song I'd be submitting for the first week. In 2020 I set the bar for myself really low with some complete garbage (just facts) and then in 2022 I somehow managed to create a prog metal epic that I was extremely proud of that set the quality of my music for a majority of the year. So naturally, the idea of setting the bar even higher has taken up a lot of real estate in my mind. However, I’ve come to realize that’s a path leading to an inevitable dead-end of frustration and unhappiness. It’s not realistic to try to write a song that’s “better”, just different. A totally different style of song setting out to do it’s own thing can be equally satisfying. Not to mention that actual act of writing music should bring you enjoyment, not just the end product you desire.
So after a lot of improvising, this particular idea resonated with me. Two main chords, back and forth, with a simple beat and bassline. Pretty much as straight forward as it gets for me. I wanted to try to squeeze as much creative energy into this single idea at the risk of it possibly being too repetitive, so I incorporated a lot of dynamics, layers, and melodies with the hope that the moment to moment progression of the song holds the listener’s attention. That said, I did slide in some of that 7/8 bullshit in at the end. What can I say? It just felt soooo right.
All and all, I’m pretty happy with the result. It’s chill and sits comfortably in this space between “slacker rock” and jazz-fusion. I’m going to refrain from nitpicking the things I don’t like about my songs because the things that seem to bother me don’t really seem to be noticed by anyone else. I’ve been overly critical of myself in the past in these song descriptions, so I’m going to consciously avoid doing that. However, YOU should feel free to let me know what could use improving. Especially because you might point something I didn’t consider. Just don’t, like, be a meanie about it. 
› Goals for WB2024
‹ Goals for WB2024
So each time I’ve participated in WB, I like to set some goals for myself each time since it’s a great opportunity to learn and grow. These aren’t hard and fast rules or anything, they’re subject to change based on new discoveries, shifting priorities, or simply my mood/inspiration that week. But a few ideas I’m interested in pursuing are…
1. Improving singing confidence through exposure. In other words, try to sing every week. Sing loudly. Sing in front of people. Be ok with my voice cracking or sounding stupid while I’m trying to get better. There’s also a minor but mandatory goal that pairs with this and it’s writing lyrics more often, so hopefully I’ll get better at that as well. I took a couple of months worth of singing lessons back in 2023. I found them helpful, but I also realized that the biggest barrier to my singing I haven’t really addressed is that I’m *afraid* to sing. I sing quietly and sheepishly because I don’t want the imperfections of my voice to be heard. So that’s the particular importance of this goal, to get over it.
2. Try writing more “conventional” songs. Relatively speaking. I want to step away from my familiar prog rock/metal cliches that I’ve relied on so much in the past. I’d like to write shorter songs and examine what makes them impactful. Focusing on a specific idea rather than exploring many. This isn’t to say I’m going to pull some prog nonsense on occasion, though. If I have a crazy idea and it excites me, I’m doing it. There’s a particular band, Crumb, that I’ve found a lot of inspiration from the last few years. They write their music with a strong identity and manage to capture and present those ideas within the timespan of two to three minutes. When you put all the songs back to back, the momentum is felt. Like a prog song with multiple vibes and movements, you get a similar feeling from an album of short, unique songs.
And yeah, that’s it? Pretty short list, all things considered. Some of my goals from previous years were trying to incorporate more keys/synths into my songs, learning to mix better, improve my bass playing, put out more songs with vocals, etc. Those are all things I accomplished to some degree and an ongoing pursuit. Think of it as a continuously growing list of things I’m always trying to improve upon and I have the capacity to add a couple more goals on top of those.
